"When you get a big boy on it, the noise alone will bring the crowd," Hagen said. "It is so loud that you can feel it in your chest."

The dyno works by holding a vehicle down while allowing the drive wheels to move. The wheels move a drum, and the computer counts the revolutions and how fast they are increasing. By measuring the increase in velocity, it calculates the horsepower and torque curve, Hagen said, adding that the results also provide information on the air-to-fuel ratio.

Last spring at the 95 FM KSHE Car Show, which more than 4,500 people attended, Hagen said he had the dyno set up, and as soon as the cars got on the dyno, the crowd formed. That is when Hagen finds business, he said.

"At the car shows, the dyno is a sales tool," he said. "The dyno gets us visibility; then it is just about talking parts and performance with any group that has any interest."

Hagen said he can work on any type of car and add any part, ranging from installing twin turbochargers in a Porsche to a supercharger in a Mustang. It could be domestic, European, or Asian, he said. 

 
"Each of these is substantially different to the point that we need specialists," he said. "Well, I can't afford to have specialists for everything, but I do have a specialist for everything--they are contractors. Everything I do is sublet."

Hagen said he acts as the general contractor and, depending on the job, sublets all the business to local specialists. The contractors that he uses include John's Auto Body and Paint in Imperial, Mo., Weir Chevrolet and Red Bud Ford in Redbud, Ill., Sylvan Springs Automotive in St. Louis, and Reid Vann Luxury Imports in St. Louis.

 "We are dealing with more than one brand and one small segment," he said. "Anybody can walk in with anything and we have to find the technician and parts that will solve that issue." 

For performance parts, Hagen said 90 percent come from Weir Chevrolet, Red Bud Ford, Motor State Distributing, and Keystone Automotive Industries.

"This is not like a parts house you would usually run into with 14 water pumps on the wall," he said. "We deal in such esoteric parts for specific vehicles that we couldn't afford to stock the amount that we needed for today's business; we just don't know."

The dyno results can also generate business in performance and engine tuning, Hagen said. For example, he said, the results from the dyno may show that a vehicle has a problem with air-to-fuel ratio. By using an engine management system such as the SCT XCalibrator 2 handheld, he said he can write programs on the computer and upload it into the OBD II to make adjustments to the ratio. 

  
"By using an engine management system, we can tune the vehicle in order to optimize its performance," he said. "We can try to add more fuel or take a little bit away, and we can change the spark or the timing. With the engine management system, we can affect about 360 different codes."

A team of 10 part-time workers including engineers and technicians help with the running dyno and the tuning process, Hagan said, adding that he has the only two mobile chassis dynamometers in the St. Louis area.

Hagen said his latest push with the mobile dyno is to use it as a tool to encourage the use of the corn-based alternative fuel ethanol (E85).

By altering the air-to-fuel ratio, changing the timing, and adding bigger filters, he said he can prepare a vehicle to burn E85. 

 
"We are involved in ethanol for a number of reasons," he said. "First it really burns clean, No. 2, it is a lot cheaper than fuel, and No. 3, it puts our farmers back to work and reduces our dependence on foreign oil."

The racers are going to be the ones to lead the American public into E85 use, Hagen said.

"The World of Outlaws Racing Group by themselves have sanctioned races at 4,500 tracks every week with a fan base only second to NASCAR," he said. "This is a fan base that is face to face. These fans are extremely loyal, and a lot of these things are being run in agricultural communities, and a lot of the people racing are from those communities."

Hagen said he is trying to encourage racers to use E85, which will in turn promote it to the general public.

From there, he said, "We are going to take the knowledge that we have and move it towards the ability to change the vehicles to burn alternative fuels."

Since 1971, Hagen has also owned Commercial Fleet Export, a parts business that ships parts to 37 countries in South America and the Eastern Caribbean.